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Guide to the Squad Leader
Guide to the Squad Leader taken from the PRE CU Official Squad Leader FAQ v3.1 by CaptainVemnox and the How to make the most of your skills (Version 2.6) by Oberon131313 from the SOE Squad Leader forum What is a Squad Leader ? The Squad Leader profession is geared towards the increased abilities and functions that can enhance and simplify the normal functions of a group leader. This does not mean that a Squad Leader is automatically a group leader. There is also a mindset that separates the successful Squad Leaders from those who just wear the tag. The tools provided to us by SOE merely help us perform our chosen play style better. Who would make good Squad Leader? A good Squad Leader is a person who is willing to do the extra work to keep things organized and running efficiently. In other MMORPG's these people have often been placed in roles such as Raid leaders and Guild/PA Masters. These people are use to creating rules for encounters, looting rotation, and schedules. These skills are critical to creating a useful hunting group. You must be willing to organize your missions and your people. Scribbled notes on paper surrounding your playing area with notes of different planets, monsters, weapons, and professions abilities is a good sign you are in the right direction. When it comes to your group try to recognize the newer players. Subtle things will tell you if they are new and try to coach them a bit. Try to discourage the abusive treatment towards them in your group just because they are fresh to the game. If they are new, they are likely to be cautious as well. Tell them the rules for being in the group and chances are good they will pay attention. And who knows, you may just earn the respect of a Master Doctor, Master Armor smith and maybe someday a Jedi. A Squad Leader also should consider playing some of the other combat and support professions over his career. This should be augmented with research into their strengths, weaknesses and abilities. With this information, you can better organize your resources of people and know what to expect. It will also assist in knowing how much your group can take and what spots need to be addressed. Do not be afraid to ask the skills of the characters in the group. Just because you see a Master Ranger tag on someone, that person may also be a couple of skill points from being a Master Medic as well. Most importantly, a Squad Leader should be able to find the balance for his group. Not the balance of combat and support but the balance of experience for the group and fun. Of course you are going to have great experience hunting Dark Jedi. But how many people will be frustrated with the persistent cloning. I have seen Squad Leaders shouting commands a lot. Why is that? Many Squad Leaders enjoy role-playing their class. We are professional soldiers leading the way into battle so why not act like it. With the use of the /set command, you can add text to your skills. /set%C %text Where %C = command and %text + pharse /setsteadyaim Hold your targets. This command will have your character say "Hold your targets." when you use the /steadyaim command. Try to be original but also try not to be vulgar in your use of this command. How To Lead ... A post from Sylow from the Squad Leader forum. http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=squad_leader&message.id=27737#M27737 Welcome aboard. And on the topic of training... i don't know, i never got some, i never really gave some. And, honestly, i wouldn't even know what to teach you what is not yet on the forums. Be nice to the people when things go fine, give them a bit of heat when they do really bad, but then absolutely remember to also congratulate them when they do better again. Don't complain that it is still not perfect, play as if it was, even if you saw ways to improve still... remember, you want and probably will team up with them again, unless speaking of a random pickup group for grinding, so there will be plenty of time to still improve, no need to get perfect at first try. Otherwhise... observe what people are doing... some people in my team i tend to give more orders, as they otherwhise start to rush off for their own interests. (Make them feel important. Telling somebody not to be stupid to run after an enemy is the negative way. Telling the same person that you need his firepower here to cover your rear end is the very same, but sounds more positively.) Others get little orders as i know, they work fine by themselves and my orders would decrease their efficiency. Know your people, learn who to speak to and who to let run loose. But never put the strings too tight, unless it's a dire PvP situation. People want to have fun, if you direct them strictly, they will hate it. (On the other hand, if you give strict orders in PvP, most people appreciate it... especially if they realize that only by sticking to your orders, they are the ones still blowing air through their teeth after the battle...) Anyways, this all is on how to treat people... and, I assume this is more or less all I do, my personal tactics are very limited. Keep the team groups together (I tried to split them up a few times... always got me a bloody nose that way...), organize a chat channel for everybody involved in a bigger activity (like basebusting) since communication from groupleader to groupleader and those give the info to their team is too slow and keeps too many people busy in repeating stuff which was just said on the higher level channel, try to focus fire on single targets. ( ... ... it's a challenge to make real players stay on target while they are under attack from another direction. You have to have an experienced team to do that.) Otherwhise... when I see need, I "wake up" our medics by a /sys Heal name, if we have losses I call the docs on who I want to have ressed first, stuff like that... no big deal. I assume that there are several people here who are better in tactics, but alas, i found no teacher yet, either... and got the feeling that the way i run things usually turn out well enough. (I'm still proud on the battle, were 9 of us managed to cut down 7 of at least 25 hostiles and still were not defeated by the enemy players but by a traitor combatant who dragged several lv. 85+ NPCs into our group... ) Still, in case that a skilled tactician ever plans to do some serious teaching, i also would like to sign up. Making the most ouf of my professon General * The normal status (on leave - combatant - special forces) rules apply to all new squad leader abilities. * All squad leader buffs have a 100m range. The buff will only effect the groupmembers if the squad leader is in 100m range. They automatically reapply when the groupmember enteres the 100m range again. * Groupbuffs can be applied to the squad leader himself when he is not grouped. * A squad leader can only have one groupbuff and one individual buff on at the same time, but multiple squad leader can have different buffs stacking them in their group. Squad Leader Abilities * /Painttarget DOES work via the pass through/assist command, thus you can apply it to your groupmembers target by targeting your groupmember * /calledshot :* works when the squad leader is not grouped :* does NOT work via the pass through/assist command, thus you can not apply by targeting your groupmembers :* can NOT be used as autoattack * /sysgroup only works if the squad leader is groupleader, ' Sun-Tzu "The Art of War" wrote: ' '' "When the general is weak and without authority; When his orders are not clear and distinct; When there are no fixed duties assigned to officers and men, And the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, The result is utter chaos. '' As squad leader your job is communication and colored sys msg are your most important tool. Keep your group as much up to date about * (a) What is your objective (raiding bases or just random PvP). * (b) Keep them focused on your task! * © What is going on right now (why are waiting, what is going on on ventrilo, where are your group mates, what is the other group currently doing, what slice is currently going on, how many samples has the BE, .. * (d) And naturally what is your next command. Hand out information as much as you can as often as you can! To speeden this up use pre-pepared aliases for common commands. Also keep in contact with the other groupleader(s) if you can. If your not on vent, have at least one groupmember on vent with the other group and assign him to type as much as he can what he hears in vent into the groupchat so you can put it into /sys so everybody knows what is going on. Groupbuffs * All groupbuffs have a 30 minute effect or until another group buff is called to cancel out the prior group buff of the squad leader. * All group buffs are on the same 10 sec cooldown. * If the squad leader leaves the group the whole group looses all their buffs, with the exception of the squad leader himself. If new groupmembers join the group they automatically get the new groups. Offensive Use offensive buffs, when you have to hit hard and fast. In the first few minutes of a fight, when organisation is still good and you have your group still strongly focused. Especially good if your groups is reacting to your target calls this can make your cut even faster through your opponents. * Volleyfire - Reduces the effectiveness from the armor of your opponents. Use this one when you face ppl with high armor ratings (mostly regulars ppl using a PSG), since the damage taken can go up by +15%. * Steady Aim - Increases the accuracy of your groupmembers. Use this against melee stackers and jedi with very high defense ratings, damage taken can go up by 10%. * Blace of Glory - Gives a chance to score a critical hit (about 10%) which will do 50% more damage. I dont bother with this one because the chance is to low in my opinion. Better go for another offensive or combat effectiveness buff. Defensive Use defensive buffs, when you stand and hold or are outnumbered. Also in unknown and random groups I try focuse more on defense to keep the group standing, as soon as the work "gets used to each other" and my style of leading and fighting, I switch to offensive. Defensive buffs are in most situations in my humble opinion more imporatant since you have mostly ppl reinforcing you so its important to hold the line. If your a group breaks because it can easily break the morale of the whole attack leading to a defeat and ppl leaving. The longer you stand and fight the more ppl will be willing to join you especially if you are able to keep them together. * Tactics - Increases your defense rating, very valuable if you face a lot of ranged opponents. Increasing defense lowers damage and increases their chance to hit. * Call To arms - Increases your armor rating by +1000 (might be broken, still under research). Good against melee/jedi with armor break. If ppl are already using high quality armor this might not be as effective because of the diminishing return of higher armor ratings. Movement * Forumup - very good default buff, your group gains a high running speed and incredible good terrain negotiation. * Charge - A bit fast but comes with -200 defense for the squad leader. I do not bother with this one sofar. * Retreat - Fastes Movement Buff, but empties mind and action from you whole group. NEVER USE THIS! Combat effectiveness * Boostmorale - Highly increases regeneration rate of all groupmembers. Check your groups action and mind for heavy action users, though if it is just on dont bother with it. Might even be able to keep up the action for jedi in conjuction with speed buffs. * Doubletime - Decreases cooldown times about 20%. Can be very effective if mid combat for a few minutes, since you will hit faster thus more often. Very good in conjuction with boostmorale to keep up the action regeration. * Secondchance - Broken Individiual Buffs * All individual buffs have a 10 minute buff duration. * All 4 solo buffs are on the same 10 minute cooldown, meaning you can only have 1 solo buff used at a time. * Individual buffs can not be applied to the SL himself, though one SL can apply one to another SL in his group. PvE * Verbal Assault - Increases aggro of one member, good to keep the aggro on your tank or pointman. * Combat Feint - Decreases aggro of one member, very good for healers or low level characters who have to avoid the aggro in higher level groups. Combat effectiveness * Toughen - Increases armor rating for one member. Again good for low levels who can not wear armor. * High Yield - Increase damage output for one member. Good for the tanks and pointmans, to keep the aggro. Also good for taking out turrets for the rifleman. Spatial Commands Close to all new squad leader commands are tied to a spatial shout or yell. As this will clearly mark you as squad leader I didnt bother to hide them with "false" information. I give a small hint away in all my spatial commands what kind of buff it is Im using as well as what I want my group to do in case I use a certain ability. All spatial commands are set upon a 60 seconds timer but still keep them "civil". This is the list to change your spatial commands for your Squad Leader group and individual buffs as well as abilities ( 64 character limit): /setsteadyaim /setcalltoarms /setvolleyfire /settactics /setblazeofglory /setdoubletime /setboostmorale /setformup /setretreat /setcharge /settoughen /sethighyield /setverbalassault /setcombatfeint /setcalledshot /setpainttarget /setsecondchance /sysgroup command How can I use color in the /sysgroup command? As with many other functions in SWG, you can add color to /sysgroup commands. This can be done by adding the color code to the command line. The format for doing so is as follows. /sysgroup \#FF0000\ message This would produce Squad Leader Vemnox: message The \# is followed by the hex color code. There are many sites on the internet explaining how this functions so I will just give you the brief of it. This is a hex values for colors broke down into red, green, and blue. Examples \#ff0000 = red \#000000 = black \#00FF00 = green \#FFFF00 = yellow \#0000FF = blue \#00FFFF = light blue \#FF00FF = purple Also notice that there is a space between the p and the \ and before the message you wish to display. Keep in mind that just because you can see a color clearly on your screen, your squad my not. Problems with Colors: * Try putting the forward backslash or \ on both sides of the color code. IE: \#123456\ rest if whatever you're doing. (BadChef http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=squad_leader&message.id=23966) Is there a way to shorten my /sysgroup commands? The /sysgroup command will always default to the text color set on the client system unless you have added the color code. You can however use the /alias command to create your own variation of the /sysgroup command. /alias rr /sys \#FF0000\ This will create a new command for you called /rr. With the above line, the /rr command would create the same results as if you had entered the /sys command. Both of the following lines would then produce the same results. /rr this is a test /sys \#FF0000\ this is a test You can take this to the next step by aliasing lines of text with the /alias command. /alias bogie /sys Target is %TT. Everyone open fire! (NOTE: %TT is a variable which will add the name of your current target) Why to use colored /sys commands? A tip from kharast http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=squad_leader&message.id=19382 is to use different aliases for different colors. for example, have * 'srd' for red text to give mission or player critical information like 'so and so fall back for healing, SPAWN!!, etc * 'syl' for yellow text to give cues on important but not critical information such as 'so and so take point, tanks needed to protect so and so, hit the lair / more spawn, or Next Terminal Slicer GO' * 'sbl' for blue text to give low priority low importance group information like 'gather at my position, move out to primary objective, meet at waypoint X,Y' Now your guildies know that even if they miss what you wrote on their screen if they at least saw the color they'll know how vital it was ("oh crap, kharast sent something red...what's going on?"). MSL Templates It depends on your playstyle. * Are you more a "charge with your squad leader right into the battle" the carbineer will fit pretty nicely. * If you are more a "strategical overview from behind calling for strikes and supporting those with a lot of damage" go rifleman, since you can stand way back and add a lot of damage to your called targets. * Or if you are a more "tactical SWAT squad leader in the middle of your group, supporting and covering them from righ upfront" you go pistoleer. MSL + MRifles You stay definitly behind your group taking advantage of your range. Your like the artillery everybody calls, because your damage is hard and hurts, depending on your additional skills you can use them all from that distance preparing targets or weaken them for your group to go in. * Long range. You can fight about anywhere on the battlefield like this. Move up to the front line or survey from the rear, gives you a lot of freedom. * High damage. I used to argue that carbines were the most deadly weapon, but now with enhanced power cells, I have to give it to rifle. When you get a damage/sac capped rifle with low speed...it's pretty tough. However, I'm not too impressed with the kinetic rifles which is becoming important in pvp * Con: Nearly no position or crowd control. This is a big deal to me as I like to try and control the flow of the fight. I'm learning to let myself rely on other people for this though. * Con: No aoe attack. Aoe's can be very important in many situations, it's not critical though. MSL + MPistols You're crowdcontrol, your hitting a lot of targets rarely hitting one enough to incap it, to apply your stats on several targets, while your group keeps hitting one. Your heavily dependent on support (tanks to take the aggro, Medics for heals) in your group because of the short range and being in the center of the battle. * Great crowd control. Stopping shot is great for keeping melees at bay. * Great crowd control. Intimidate, burst shot, warning shot, disarming shot, all nice abilities. * Fan shot aoe. Not the best, but good. * Nice kinetic weapon. The FWG5 is one of, if not the best kinetic gun you'll get your hands on. * Con: Short range and not so much firepower. MSL + MCarb You do a lot of damage and have crowdcontrols skills hindering the movement of your battle. Youll snare a lot and KD if you can, while sticking close to your group to have you medic support, preferred CM with area heals covering you and your group while charging into the fight. * Best single ranged prof for aoe. Full auto area is strong. Suppression fire can be hell on melees. A Deadly combination. * Best damage shot. Leg shot is also very strong. It's beat by sniper shot, but because of the warmup I consider sniper to be a special purpose shot only, not for general use. * KD attack. Gotta love charge shot. * Snare. Cripple shot may not be as great for mass pvp, but it's great control for very small numbers of melee attackers. * Weapons. E-11 and elite are very solid weapons. There is also the Nyms Slugthrower, which I consider also to be one of the best kinetic weapons. A good rival for the FWG5. * Con: I wouldn't say there's really any glaring weaknesses to carbineer, mainly that you'll be missing out on the pistol and rifle advantages, but that's a given. There is also the option to go: MSL + MSmuggler this template is just to get the girls '' You have very few specials but some pretty effective to, stall one or two targets, like those swashbuckling pirate captains, their fight always take the longest during a boarding and in the end its only him and the other captain left (in the movies the enemy captain gives up, in SWG your group will mow him down). and MSL + MBH Is the jack of all trades. You should be able to use all weapons, you can mezz, KD and damage, you can stand right in the middle with dueliststance you can nuke with your longrange weapons, but you lack the high skillmods of the other professions. and MSL + MDOC/ MCM From erli MSL+MD? Ultimate support or gimpy corpse? In playing with a post-CU Character builder I've been curiously amused by what this template could bring to a group. The extra 23 points are the hard part and what I think make or break the MSL/MD. Benefits and roles: Primary role is to stay alive so you can continue to provide your benefits to the group. Overall low-end damage and weak offensive abilities help lessen aggro and abilities to heal self achieve this. Because its CL80, overall numeric damage should remain high enough to add some damage when you actually have time to fire. Secondary role is to keep everybody else alive (tank first), buffed to their liking, with passive SL benefits. Third role is using SL group commands to enhance and direct the flow of battle. Final role is damage dealing, mainly by targeting the lead tank so you are always prepared to heal him/her. Other benefits include choice of Battle or Assault armors, choice of nice looking SL weapons, ability to heal wounds and cure a bunch of weak DoTs, and..um...some camps, yeah. Drawbacks: Only knockdown recovery unless you go to Nov. Pistoleer and get Blind recovery. This could be big as not being able to recover from a state that blocks your healing could kill you and your group Fast. Few offensive specials, not so important as damage isn't your primary role but still a drawback. Poor overall mods make you very weak when not grouped. The discussion follows on in that thread for more information on those templates pls see there. The Dabblers Guide Tactics If you only can afford one tree in SL, the Tactics Tree is one of the most interesting since it can seriously enhance the effectivness of your group. With even two or more Tacticans in a single group, all the aquired defensive enhancements are a general welcome to any battle situation. '''Tactics I:' Tactics - (Groupbuff) Enhances group defenses. Tactics II: ' ''Toughen - (Single player buff) Increases the armor rating of a single group member. 'Tactics III : ' Blaze of Glory - (Groupbuff) Gives or enhances the chance to score a critical hit. 'Tactics IV: ' Double Time - (Groupbuff) Reduces cooldown times for group member Strategy The second most interesting tree is the Strategy tree, while being as general as in the Tactics Tree they are more of an offensive nature. 'Strategy I: ' Steady Aim - (Groupbuff) Enhances group accuracy. 'Strategy II: ' High Yield - (Single player) Increases the damage output of a single group member. 'Strategy III: ' Call to Arms - (Groupbuff) Enhances group armor ratings. 'Strategy IV: ' Volley Fire - (Groupbuff) Gives group members the chance to bypass enemy armor. Leadership The Leadership tree having one of the most valueable group enhancements abilities, namely Boost morale which increases the action and mind regeneration of your group, is more a pure support line, which can be very vital in PvE with the abilities to decrease (Combat feint) and increase (Verbal assault) the generated aggro of a single groupmember. It also includes one of the squadleaders strongest offensive abilities namely Paint target (formerly volleyfire). A full group concentrating on a painted target takes down any target in just a few seconds. With Paint target being easy to aquire in the first skillbox, Boost morale is set in the Leadership IV skill box so the investements in skill points depends heavily on your playstyle, where as the PvP player will have no useage of Combat feint or Verbal assault, a more PvE oriented player with this tree will be highly welcome among Docs and Tanks in any PvE encounters. Mobility Is the tree for pilots, at least '''Mobility I with Rally Point. This ability sets a waypoint for all groupmembers on the ground but it also works in space http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=in_testing&message.id=82739#M82739. Dabbling without full trees A full tree takes up 14 skill points with 5 skillpoints for the first box, as well as the option to choose form three different groupbuffs and one single target groupbuff. An alternative to taking one full tree is taking 0111 SL where you gain one general offensive and defensive groupbuff as well as /painttarget, though this will cost you 15 skill points, though making you slightly more flexible in your playstyle. What are some of the common macros used by Squad Leaders? Here are some of the more common macros. Please do not let there limit you, SWG has a very broad macro function that you can explore and use. name: targetcall /sys \#FFFF00 Take \#FF0000 %TT \#FFFF00 under fire! /painttarget name: targetassist /sys \#FFFF00 Target \#FF0000 %TT \#FFFF00 and ASSIST! (+15%damage to his target) /painttarget More: Do you talk like a squad leader Category:Pre-NGE